 The Death Penalty |
Issue 133 |
Thou shalt not kill. [Exodus 20:13]
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. [Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 3]
Is it ever right to kill another human being? The answer is not as simple as it seems. We generally believe that it is wrong to take the life of another person. In fact the right to life is fundamental to our system of human rights. This right is not to be removed lightly. Does a government ever have the right to take someone's life? The answer again is not so simple. Does every human life deserve to be protected? Or do some human beings lose the right to life? Who will decide whether a person should lose their life or not?
The recent execution of the convicted Australian drug trafficker Van Nguyen, has thrown up many questions about the right of governments to take someone's life. Governments have a role in protecting the rights of all its citizens. This is why sometimes the rights of individuals are limited or taken away. Lawbreakers, for example, are sometimes punished by having their right to liberty removed for a period of time during which they spend in prison. There are limits however, to how far governments can go in punishing wrong doers. It is not acceptable to inflict cruel or inhuman punishments on people no matter how serious their crime.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. - Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5
The death penalty is used by many countries around the world including many states of the USA , as well as our near neighbours Indonesia and Singapore . This is the ultimate penalty for criminal acts in these countries. The crimes for which a person can be executed vary from country to country. In Singapore and Indonesia we have recently seen traffickers of illegal drugs sentenced to death. In the USA many convicted murderers are sentenced to death. Many other countries have abolished the death penalty. Australia 's last execution was in 1967 and it was finally abolished in 1973. Since 1977, 70 countries have abolished the death penalty. The fact that Australians have recently been sentenced to death in Singapore and Indonesia has caused many people to think again why we abolished the death penalty in Australia . Some even suggest that we should reintroduce the death penalty for some offences.
Human rights as outlined in the Universal Declaration are the standards of treatment that we consider just. To limit or take away these rights needs therefore to be justified, especially when the right to be removed is as basic as the right to life. Let us examine the main justification for the use of the death penalty:
The most common argument for the use of the death penalty is that it acts as a deterrent to potential criminals. This is difficult to prove one way or the other. How do you prove what has stopped people from committing crime? Ask the potential criminal?
This is an impossible task. One way that people have studied this issue is to compare the rates of violent crime like murder in countries or states where the death penalty exists with countries or states where there is no death penalty.
The results of all these studies show that there is no lower level of violent crime where the death penalty exists. It does seem a strange way of showing that it is wrong to kill when the government itself kills its citizens.
It is difficult to see how a person who commits a crime like murder which is often committed in the heat of the moment, will be thinking about the consequences of his/her actions. Those crimes which are planned will also not be deterred, because the person planning the crime will plan to get away with it. They will not worry about the possible punishment, as they will plan to get away with the crime. Drug traffickers are already risking their lives and will be unlikely to stop their activities because they will possibly lose their life if caught. In addition, if a person does think about the consequences for themselves of committing a crime, will they be more likely to risk decades in gaol than execution if they are caught?
Even if we accept that the death penalty does act to stop criminal action, there is a second justice issue at stake. The death penalty is final and obviously irreversible so it is necessary for there to be the utmost fairness in the administration of such a punishment. This unfortunately is not the case in the countries where it is used. You only have to look at the cases constantly taken up by organisations like Amnesty International to see that people are sentenced to death often after unfair trials where they are not even represented by a lawyer. In the USA many prisoners on death row have been found later to have been innocent despite being found guilty by a jury.
The fact is you are much more likely to be sentenced to death if you happen to be poor, part of a marginalised minority group or in many countries, an opponent of the government. The death penalty ends up being an abuse of state power.
How can we expect human life to be respected when those whose job it is to protect its citizens, condone such disrespect for human life? The consequences of crime are horrific for its victims, but we must not fool ourselves that executing criminals will somehow fix things.
To defend life by taking life is not the answer. Violence is not the answer to violence. The death penalty is cruel, ineffective, unjustly and mistakenly applied and absolutely unnecessary and should be universally opposed. To be pro-life is to be against the death penalty not only in one's own country but wherever it is used.
It is just over one year since the death of Pope John Paul II . He was subject himself to a violent attack which nearly ended his life some 25 years earlier. This is his view on the use of the death penalty:
A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. I renew the appeal I made most recently at Christmas for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary. [January 27, 1999, St Louis , Missouri]
Religion
1) At this time of year our minds are drawn to perhaps the most famous execution in history. It is appropriate to consider that Jesus was sentenced to death and executed in a most brutal way. Read the biblical accounts of Jesus' trial and sentencing to death. See the Gospel of John, chapters 18 and 19 for a detailed account of the trial process. Answer the following questions:
- How many stages did Jesus' trial have?
- Did he have legal representation?
- Was he treated fairly after his arrest?
- Did the Jewish people have the death penalty as part of their Law?
- What was Jesus accused of? Do you consider it to be a serious crime?
- Was Jesus arrested for expressing beliefs different to those in power?
- Was Jesus setting himself up as an alternative government to the Roman authorities? Was he a revolutionary?
- Did Jesus receive a fair trial?
- Was the sentence he received fair compared to Barabbas?
- Are there people today who are treated in a similar way to Jesus? Who are sentenced to death after an unfair trial? Go to http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/
view.asp?article=3611 and read the beginning of this article for such an example.
2) One justification for the death penalty given by some is the quote from the Old Testament: An eye for an eye." (Exodus 21:24) If we apply this principle across the legal system, how do we deal with torturers? Do we torture them? Mass murderers? Rapists? Those who mutilate their victims? Discuss in small groups how this principle would apply across a range of crimes. How would our legal system have to change? In the larger group, decide whether this would be a better system than we currently have.
3) Did Jesus believe in the "eye for an eye" principle? Look at the Gospel of Matthew 5:38-40 to find the answer. Would Jesus have favoured the death penalty? Discuss in small groups.
4) It has been suggested that "turning the other cheek" does not provide recourse to justice for victims and their families. Restorative justice is another approach. Go to: http://www.restorativejustice.org.uk/ and download the flyer.
- What is restorative justice?
- How could this approach benefit the victim?
- How could this approach benefit the offender?
- Pope John Paul II eventually met with the young man who violently attacked him. Why do you think Pope John Paul II believed it was important to meet with the young man?
5) Go to http://www.nccbuscc.org/sdwp/national/
criminal/catechism.htm for the relevant sections of the Catechism regarding the death penalty.
6) Go to http://www.theage.com.au/news/
commonwealth-games/priests-silent-
protest/2006/03/14/1142098448848.html and read the article about the protest against the death penalty by Father Peter Norden. Discuss in your groups whether you think that his action was right or whether you agree with Minister Justin Madden. Share your conclusions with the larger group. Do you think that his actions were in line with Christian principles?
7) As a moral issue should we be more concerned with Australians being executed than those of other countries? Discuss.
8) Research the subject of the film Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean . She is one of the world's leading campaigners against the death penalty. Go to http://www.forusa.org/fellowship/
may-june_00/onewoman.html to read an interview with her.
Sr Helen Prejean says: "The death penalty epitomises the deepest wounds in our society, which are militarism, poverty and racism." What does she mean?
Legal Studies / Social Sciences
1) Go to http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/
view.asp?article=3611 to read an article which looks at the use of the death penalty around the world. Answer the following:
- What human rights standards were not followed in the trial and execution of Atafeh Rajabi?
- How many executions were recorded during 2004?
- Why is this "the tip of the iceberg"?
- Why would countries and their governments want to keep secret the fact that they are putting people to death as well as who these people are?
- Which countries execute the most people in our region? Give details.
- Which country executes the most people per head of population?
- How will the Olympic Games affect the use of the death penalty in China ?
- Who suffers and who gets away when the death penalty is used for drug trafficking?
- How does Australia campaign against the death penalty? Is their method effective?
2) Read about the case of the 1000 th man to be executed in the USA since the reintroduction of the death penalty at http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/
region.php?id=126082®ion=4 From this report are there issues of injustice in the use of the death penalty? Discuss this within your group and report on your conclusions to the rest of the group. Another case to examine can be found at http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
article.php?scid=17&did=587
3) Participate in this activity to allow students to get an idea of how the United Nations would debate an issue such as the death penalty. This model debate also canvasses all the standard arguments for and against the use of the death penalty. Go to http://www.amnesty.org.au/__data
/assets/pdf_file/7789/12-un_model_debate
_on_the_death_penalty.pdf
4) Go to http://web.amnesty.org/pages/
deathpenalty-facts-eng to get an overview of facts and statistics regarding the use of the death penalty. Work in groups on one section of the report and present a summary to the rest of the groups. Areas to cover:
- Numbers of countries that use the death penalty as against those that have abolished it and those that do not actually use it.
- The trend towards abolition and the trend towards reintroduction of the death penalty
- Numbers of people sentenced to death and numbers of actual executions
- Methods used to execute people
- Execution of children
- The relationship between the use of the death penalty and crime rates
- Human rights instruments relevant to the abolition of the death penalty
- The problem of innocent people being executed
- The death penalty and its use in the USA
5) Go to http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/
news/stories/s1583432.htm to see an example of the use of the death penalty in China . Examine the justice issue of the use of the death penalty in this situation. What type of person is likely to be the target of this change in the law in China ? Is this fair?
6) Read this article by High Court Judge Michael Kirby at http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/
10/06/1065292529114.html?from=storyrhs especially: Our adherence to human rights, to our constitution and to the law was truly tested in dealing with strangers who were hated and feared, not people like ourselves with whom we could identify. Why is it easier to respect the human rights of people "like us"? What is Justice Kirby warning us to be careful of?
7) Go to http://www.alarise.org/Moratorium%
20Policy%20Choices%202004.pdf and examine the imposition of the death penalty in relation to race in the US state of Alabama . Why do you think that you would be more likely to be sentenced to death if you were black? Go to http://www.aclu.org/capital/unequal/
10389pub20030226.html for another perspective on this issue. Is it just that such a harsh penalty falls most heavily on certain racial groups?
Read an article on the death penalty in the USA at http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?
article=1613
Download your copy of The Death Penalty, Why Catholics Should Oppose it from http://www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au/content/
publications/positionpapers/2000_10_19the_death_
penalty_why_catholics_should_oppose_it.html
Join in the campaign against the death penalty at http://www.amnesty.org.au/Act_now/
action_centre/adp
Read and discuss this Good Friday appeal to end the death penalty in the USA from the US Catholic bishops at http://www.nccbuscc.org/sdwp/national/criminal/
appeal.htm
For a thorough coverage of the death penalty debate go to http://users.rcn.com/mwood/deathpen.html
For information about restorative justice visit: http://www.aic.gov.au/rjustice/